| FROM BRIAN'S WEBSITE:
OK ... it begins ....the fallout from American Idol.
There is so much to say - I sure have learned a lot myself already from this experience ... but slowly will do it ... one thing at a time ...
Firstly let me comment on ACE. He's a great guy.
Some of you have written in accusing me of undermining ACE with his interpretation of WWRY. Nothing could be further from the truth. I'm afraid this is an illustration of exactly what I have been quoted as saying about the programme ..... that the critical process would be better off done in private, like we do in auditioning for our musical ... .
We had an interaction with ACE, a conversation, in which we gave him the best advice we possibly could, based on studying the demo's which we already had in our iTunes - which I'd personally given a lot of time to study. This conversation, in my book, ought to have been private, but that is not the style of the show, sadly. But the even more unfortunate thing is that you are then in the hands of the video editors, who seem to seize with glee anything that looks negative. It was edited in such a way that it looked as if I was purely negative - they very naughtily inserted a bit that I said about "not on my own song" so it appeared that I said it AFTER we had played together, which was not the way it happened ...making me look like I was against the whole thing. But this was not the case. Having said that I wouldn't be able to play the arrangement exactly like his demo, and that I didn't think it would work without the stomps and claps which are foundation of the song, we then discussed how we could improve his ideas and with a mixture of a quick conference and spontaneous creation we came up with a kind of mixture of his thoughts and ours - WHICH WAS THE BASIS FOR THE ARRANGEMENT THAT YOU SAW THE HOUSE BAND PLAY ON THE NIGHT ! It was actually pretty damn good, I thought, for a quick attempt ... and he sang it very well live. If you talk to ACE he will confirm that we parted on the very best terms, and he thanked me for the input. I made it very clear that I respected him for taking chances and trying to make the song his own. The version you saw on TV used a straight sample beat with stomps and claps which set up the song in the first verse in the classic way, and then a working in of an underpinning riff (close to what I had done in our rehearsal period together, in response to Ace's idea) and then back to a straighter 3rd verse, but ending in his delayed phrase end stop, again, just as we did it together .... and I thought it was damn good.
Just in case any of this isn't clear .... the version of WWRY that ACE performed on AI last night was a DIRECT RESULT of his own ingenuity and the advice we gave him, with our full encouragement and blessing. And he definitely rocked. And we wish him much luck in the contest.
If you watch the programme again you will notice that ACE said he enjoyed working with us, and that I also said quite clearly that I thought an approach of personalising songs was a necessary ingredient of greatness ... my exact words were ... "He's a very interactive person, and that's what makes Greatness". I hope that wherever ACE is right now he remembers that there is mutual respect there between us, and much good feeling. And to all you guys out there who have become his fans ... please remember this too ...
As for the rest .....well, a little later ..
But I was impressed with all our new friends, the Idols - wonderful job, guys, THANKS ! .. and we feel really complimented.
With Love
Bri | |
